Tuesday, 18 October 2016

Footloose: The Musical

The story starts with Ren and his
mum moving away from trendy Chicago to the small and old-fashioned town known
as Bomont. A town where dancing is illegal and we follow Ren and his friends as
they challenge this law; wanting to express themselves in the art of music and
dance.

They've done a great job of
developing the classic 80’s movie into an actor-musician show. The cast is
incredibly talented and very entertaining to watch. They are acting, singing,
playing instruments and dancing at the same time – I was mesmerised from the
first scene to the last and there are some great comedy moments too, especially
from Willard, played by Gareth Gates. He’s a really funny character – he engaged
the audience well with his comical faces and actions directed towards us and
his silly jokes got a good giggle.

Luke Baker and Hannah Price
played the rebel lovebirds Ren McCormack and the reverend’s daughter Ariel
Moore. They were both brilliant and I particularly liked Rusty and Willards
relationship too (Gareth and Joanna Sawyer) which was awkward but lovely! With
80’s classics like Footloose, Holding Out For A Hero and Let’s Hear It For The
Boy, you can’t help but tap your feet and sing along.

Hats off to all the creatives
from the fantastic choreography to the lighting and stage sets (which were far
from simple) and one of the best sets I’ve seen from a touring theatre show,
you can see the amount of effort, time and detail that went into creating it.

Without giving too much away, the
ending has all the audience on their feet clapping, dancing and cheering so we
left buzzing.

Footloose the Musical is running
this week at MK Theatre from Monday 17th – Saturday 22nd October. Tickets from
www.atgtickets.com